ABSTRACT

Throughout time, there have been influencers who possess the power to affect decisions of others, and this power has become particularly evident in the current multibilliondollar marketplace of influencer marketing. Practitioners and scholars are focusing on the power of social media to affect change, and the popular press has begun to refer to entrepreneurs as influencers and influencers as entrepreneurs. As such, the current research examines the power of influence in terms of influential entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial influencers. Influential entrepreneurs have the power to encourage others to believe in themselves and to ignite passion for personal success, while also garnering support for their own ventures. Entrepreneurial influencers generally begin as marketing influencers who develop a following on a digital platform and then begin to build their own entrepreneurial endeavors by promoting to their followers. We contribute to the entrepreneurial marketing literature by bringing together similar, yet disparate, research to understand people identified as both influencers and entrepreneurs and suggest that influential entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial influencers are not two sides of the same coin. While both possess characteristics of attractiveness and the ability to connect people and communities, findings suggest that influential entrepreneurs are perceived as more credible than entrepreneurial influencers. While entrepreneurial influencers are enabled by external products or brands for which they are promoting, influential entrepreneurs are enabled by the strength of their own personal brands that created a product offering.

摘要

一直以来，有影响力的人拥有影响他人决策的权力，这种权力在当前价值数十亿美元的影响力营销市场中变得尤为明显。从业者和学者正在关注社交媒体影响变革的力量，大众媒体开始将企业家称为影响者，将影响者称为企业家。因此，当前的研究从有影响力的企业家和创业影响者的角度来考察影响力。有影响力的企业家有能力鼓励他人相信自己，激发个人成功的热情，同时也为自己的企业赢得支持。创业影响者通常从营销影响者开始，他们在数字平台上培养追随者，然后开始通过向追随者推销来建立自己的创业努力。我们通过汇集相似但不同的研究来了解被认为是影响者和企业家的人，并提出有影响力的企业家和企业家影响者不是同一枚硬币的两面，从而为创业营销文献做出贡献。虽然两者都具有吸引力和连接人与社区的能力，但研究结果表明，有影响力的企业家被认为比具有企业家影响力的人更可信。虽然企业家影响者受到他们所宣传的外部产品或品牌的支持，